The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly protests the July
23 sentencing, by an Iasi city court, of Romanian journalists Ovidiu
Scutelnicu and Dragos Stingu to one year in prison for criminal libel.
The decision, once carried out, will make Romania the second country
in the former Eastern bloc (after Uzbekistan) to imprison journalists
for defamation.

Scutelnicu and Stingu are reporters for Monitorul, one of the most
popular independent dailies in northeast Romania. Petre Susanu, a local
police colonel, and his wife, Otilia, a top city court official, brought
libel charges against the two journalists for a May 27 article, "Dismissal
at the Top of the Iasi Police," which described his firing from the
police force. The article evaluated the grounds for Susanu's dismissal
and questioned the origins of the colonel's wealth. Several members
of Susanu's family hold positions in the city court system, including
the couple's daughter, who is a judge, and son-in-law, who is a prosecutor.
This prompted Scutelnicu and Stingu to request that the case be transfered
to another venue, because they believed their trial would be unfair.
The Supreme Court rejected their request however, providing no explanation.

The reporters were convicted of libel under article 206 of the penal
code and remain free pending an appeal filed with the same Iasi court
on August 3. Under Romanian law, this is their only opportunity to appeal
the decision. On top of the prison sentence, the court ordered the journalists
to pay a 1.5 billion lei fine (about US$170,000), stripped them of their
civil rights, and barred them from practicing their profession for one
year. On August 5, Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica promised to file
an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court on the journalists' behalf
if the Iasi court rejects their appeal.

As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of
our colleagues around the world, CPJ strongly protests the criminal
prosecution and jailing of journalists Ovidiu Scutelnicu and Dragos
Stingu for defamation as a violation of all international norms on press
freedom. We urge you to call for a review of the case and to ensure
that the journalists' rights as guaranteed by the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, and the other multilateral treaties,
are upheld.

CPJ strongly encourages you to initiate a review of the statutes punishing
journalists with up to three years in prison for libel and defamation.
The European Court of Human Rights, and other international courts,
have ruled there are ample civil remedies for libel.